Follow the crazy adventures of an Alabama cyclist taking on the Race Across America (again) in 2017.

USA Crits – Ironhill Twilight and Capital Crit Race Reports

2010 Capital Criterium – July 11, 2010 – Amazing!Photo by Marco Quezada.
What an experience of racing this weekend! I received call-ups both days for being in the Top 10 overall for the USA Crits series! This picture above is right before the start of Sunday’s Capital Criterium during the singing of the Italian National Anthem followed shortly by the American National Anthem. The reason for the Italian anthem is because this race was held in part to promote the start of the 2012 Giro d’Italia in Washington, DC. The course was fun and fast. I worked hard to stay at the front for the entire race and ended up 18th.2010 Ironhill Twilight Criterium – July 10, 2010Photo by @ShaunaSmashLooking down at broken derailleur while coasting to a stop.Photo by Joe Mallis
Saturday night was a fast, fun Twilight Criterium in West Chester, PA. The story of the night for me (besides getting a call-up!) was how much time could I spend in the pits! Only a few laps into the race, I got caught up in a crash on the hill coming out of Turn 3. I think my bike was OK, but later in the race I ended up cracking my derailleur cage when the chain came off. I ran back to the pits and got a SRAM neutral bike, which I was able to use to finish the race (38th place). SRAM was awesome and let me use the bike again the next day since it was impossible to fix the bike without ordering the part.

After the weekend’s races, I moved into 6th overall. And even though I’m missing the next race, I’m hoping to still have enough points to be in the Top 10 for Charlotte and Dallas which are the final two races in the series.

@TotalCyclist broadcast the Ironhill Crit live, and there is still an archived version available online at the following URL:

The weekend was the first time I have flown to a race since 1998. It went pretty smoothly, albeit expensive!

Saturday, 11AM Dreary morning here in Baltimore – forecast is for rain tonight in West Chester, PA, too. That means tonight’s Ironhill Twilight criterium is looking to be pretty much a repeat of this year’s Athens Twilight. With one exception, though, I should be getting a call-up which means I won’t be stuck at the back of a huge field!

I flew in last night to the Baltimore airport, grabbed a shuttle to the hotel with my giant bike carrier (61 lbs w/ bike, clothes, tools), and then assembled my roughed up bike. Everything inside the bike carrier had come unscrewed and with the handlebars dismounted I forgot to screw the headset together so the fork had almost pulled completely out of the bike – I’m very lucky it didn’t crack! I had been planning to take the free shuttle back to the airport to take a free shuttle to the rental car place to pick up my rental car. But then I realized – wait a minute – I have a bike! So I avoided the shuttles and biked the 4.5 miles to the rental car place to pick up my car. The bike worked great, and I felt great, but it was pouring down rain. So dripping wet I waited in line, got the car, put my bike in the trunk, and headed back to the hotel. Everything is drying out now — just in time to get soaked again tonight during the race!

Later that day... The sun came out at the end of the day, dried up all the streets, and we raced on the perfectly dry (and fast) streets of downtown West Chester. It was a hard race, and I ended up 38th.